In response to Standard No. 27 of the Canadian Council for the Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs (CCAPP) Accreditation Standards and Guidelines for the First Professional Degree in Pharmacy Programs (2014), structured practice experiences must be a component of the pharmacy curriculum. These experiences must be of adequate intensity, breadth, structure and duration so as to achieve the defined educational outcomes. The practice experiences must integrate, reinforce and advance the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values developed through the other components of the professional program. They must include introductory and formative experiences during the program and a sustained period of experiences to conclude the program. The practice experiences must include direct interaction with diverse patient populations in a variety of practice settings. Students must be able to contribute to patient care provided by interprofessional teams that include pharmacists. Student tasks during all stages of experiential learning must contribute meaningfully and productively to the professional activities of the practice site and must not require excessive oversight from the preceptor. All practice experiences must be under the supervision of pharmacist preceptors.
According to CCAPP, early and mid-program practice experiences must involve four weeks (160 hours) of student placement in practice sites and may be supplemented with additional volunteer activities, service learning or other forms of community-engaged learning. Early pharmacy experiences should begin early in the curriculum, be interfaced with didactic course work that provides an introduction to the profession, and continue in a progressive manner leading to entry into the advanced pharmacy practice experiences.
The sustained period of required concluding practice experiences near the end of the program must involve at least twelve weeks (480 hours) of full time, student placement in practice sites. The aggregate of practice experiences must ensure that all educational outcomes and entry to practice competencies are met by students prior to the completion of the academic program. Practice experiences may be structured under co-op arrangements provided the Faculty ensures that co-op site and preceptor selection criteria, program-defined educational outcomes, and student assessment procedures are established and verified in a manner similar to traditional experiential placements.
SPEP AT QATAR UNIVERSITY
SPEP at Qatar University College of Pharmacy is organized as a progressive continuum to support growth in the student’s capabilities to render patient-centered care as a competent, independent practitioner. SPEP involves placement in a community, hospital, clinic and elective pharmacy practice setting over a 2-year period.
SPEP involves 24 weeks (960 hours) of structured pharmacy practice experience. This takes place in six successive rotations. SPEP-1 (PHAR330) takes place during the summer semester of the second professional year and is comprised of 160 contact-hours (4 weeks) of structured experiences. SPEP-2 (PHAR430) occurs during the summer semester of the third professional year and is comprised of 160 contact-hours (4 weeks) of structured experiences. SPEP-3, SPEP-4, SPEP-5 and SPEP-6 (PHAR530,531,532,533) occur during the fall semester of the fourth professional year and are comprised of 640 contact-hours (4 x 4 weeks) of structured experiences.
By completing all SPEP rotation requirements, each student is expected to master a core set of learning outcomes associated with daily pharmacy practice. Preceptors will provide opportunities for students to be consistently exposed to activities in a graded fashion, as allowed by law, which are expected to enable growth in achieving the professional competencies for entry to practice. The 9 National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities (NAPRA) Professional Competencies for Canadian Pharmacists at Entry to Practice include the following:
- Ethical, Legal and Professional Responsibilities
- Patient Care
- Product Distribution
- Practice Setting
- Health Promotion
- Knowledge and Research Application
- Communication and Education
- Intra and Inter-Professional Collaboration
- Quality and Safety